PHOTO
PAULINEDARLEY/CORBIS
AMERICANWAY
APRIL2016
33
WHEN IGGYPOP,
thegranddaddyofpunkrock, andJoshHomme, themastermindbehindQueensof theStone
Age, teamedup tomakeanalbum, theysetsomegroundrules: 1.Record insecretatHomme’sdesertcompound
inJoshuaTree,California.2.Arrangesongsonlywhen together.3.Bury theentireproject if theydidn’t like it.
“If itsucks, Iwillpersonally takeashovel,digaholeandbury it in thedirt,”Hommesaidbefore theybegan.
Fortunately forus, they liked it.
Theresultof theircollaboration is
PostPopDepression
, acompactnine-songalbum featuringHomme’scom-
positionalgeniusandIggy’suncompromising, in-your-faceattitudeon fulldisplay.Wechecked inwithbothmen
toget thedetailson thealbum,outnow.
Iggy,what inspiredyou to reach
out toJoshHomme to record this
project together?
IggyPop:
I lookedback at the records
I’dbeenmaking after
American
Caesar
in ’93, and I thought I was
failing. I didn’t think I was livingup
tomy full potential, honestly. I just
wanted towindup and throwdown.
That’s thebest way I canput it.And
I’mnot the sort of artist whodoes
his best workwithout somehelp. So
somebody said, “You should call Josh
Homme. I thinkhe’dworkwith you.”
I hadmet Josh years ago at [the]
Kerrang!Awards, and I likedhim. I
always hadquite a favorable impres-
sionof the things hedid. But I hadn’t
really studiedhim. I studied
…Like
Clockwork
pretty carefully, and some
of theDesert Sessions.And I thought,
“Wow, here’s somebodywho canwrite
aballad at the skill level of when art
rockwas at its top in the ’70s.”
Howdidyour respective styles com-
plement eachotheron thisalbum?
IP:
Joshhas agift as a composer and
as apromoter of a situation that allows
that competition togrow andbe real-
ized.He cango all theway through,
inother words. You can look at it this
way: You knowwhat amaraschino
cherry is?You could call Josheither
the cocktail or the ice cream sundae,
and I do themaraschino-cherrypart.
I tried topromote inhim a subject to
write around, something toprovoke
his latent creativity. I tried todo it in
such away that hopefully itwouldgive
him a chance todo some travelingout
of his usual zone. I gavehim a charac-
ter towrite for and some subjects to
write about and tried tomake those
compatiblewith themusic.
Josh,whatwas it like for you to
recordanalbumuninhibited from
the industry?
JoshHomme:
Imade the last three
records before this in the same
manner.When youmake a record
in secret, andnoone is aware you’re
doing it, it’s completely for yourself.
You’renotmaking it for someoneelse.
So the veryfirst people you’re trying
toplease areeachother and that’s it. I
feel that is thebest way todo it. If
youmake something you really love,
youhave agreater chanceof having
other people feel the sameway.
Whatwas thehighlightofmaking
thisalbum for you, Josh?
JH:
The threeweeks in thedesert. I
think thoseweeks in thedesert really
informed this record.Wewere living
together, andon the compound
there’s three littlehouseswith about
200 yards of walkbetween them.
Thosewalks togomake lunch and
eat together… you know, we’dhave
breakfast, go record, walkback, have
lunch. Those littlewalks, those little
reflectivemoments, informed the al-
bum and thedirection asmuch as the
moments recordingdid.Mygrandpa
used to say, “Take theextrafive
minutes. It’llmake all thedifference.”
Andboy, was he right. Thosewalks
between the cabins proved it.
It sounds likeyou stayedcommitted
to theorganicdevelopmentof the
GoingRogue
Withhelp fromQueensof theStoneAge founderJoshHomme,
IggyPop
took to thedesert forunbridledcreativity inrecordinghis17th
—andpossiblyfinal—studioalbum,
PostPopDepression
, availablenow
BY CALEB DOWNS
“I THINKTHISWILLPROBABLYBETHELASTMAJOR
ENGLISH-SPEAKINGWORKTHAT IWILLUNDERTAKE
WITHMYARMFULLYDIPPED INTHEMACHINE.”
—IGGY POP
